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PULP FICTION | VISUALLY GRIPPING PAPERBACK ART OF THE ’50s & ’60s

In case you missed it over on the TSY facebook page I’ve been obsessed with the below piece of work for quite some time, and finally posted it up and asked the beloved The Selvedge Yard clan for help in identifying the artist. It took about all of 2 seconds.

As a kid, my healthy diet of Happy Days, Sha Na Na, and flicks like The Lords of Flatbush deeply engrained a love of greaser culture and style that will surely remain until I die. “Bad Girls” by James Alfred Meese slays me with every viewing. Obviously the cover art was intentionally as lurid and enticing as possible to get you to part with your money and buy the “pulp” paperbacks that were named after the cheaply produced paper they were printed on. Here are a few other fine examples of pulp art, which really peaked in the ’50s & ’60s, in my humble opinion.

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Bad Girls — paperback cover art by James Alfred Meese, 1958

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Bad Girls– They prowl the fringe of the underworld for kicks — cover art by James Alfred Meese, 1958

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Prize Pupil — unsigned paperback cover art, 1966

Prize Pupil, by Amy Harris — unsigned paperback cover art, 1966

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The Snatch — paperback cover art by Mitchell Hooks, 1958

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The Snatch — Will these three men finally commit the most dangerous crime of all? — 1958

I love this stuff, who needs Grease, Bad Girls artwork says it all. Nice to see the curvature of Prize Pupil’s arse and the contact in the pelvic thrust. It must have been under the counter, even in 1966?